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Forcefi eld Pro Shirt X-V By Christopher P. Baker #126077
IN OCTOBER 2015, WHILE ON A Rawhyde Adventures off-road trip in the Mojave Desert, I dumped in sand and went down hard. I’d fallen on a Rawhyde training course the prior year. On both occasions I damaged my ribs. The falls taught me the imperative of protecting my thorax. Like the majority of motorcycle jackets, my BMW AirShell lacked chest protection. It was time to upgrade or add to my wardrobe. My first consideration was
a roost protector. I tried a few, but their hard shell structures made me look like a Star Wars Stormtrooper. I felt like a medieval knight trapped in plate armor. So, unseen, I pur- chased a Forcefield Elite chest protector to strap over the sternum. It didn’t live up to its billing. It was uncomfortable, too bulky, and the adjustable straps proved to be anything but.
I wanted something light-
weight and flexible. Bingo! After a thorough perusal of options, the skin-hugging Forcefield Pro Shirt X-V seemed just the ticket. The long-sleeved, single-piece garment resembles a cyclist’s shirt with pliable chest, back, elbow and shoulder armour strategi- cally built into pockets. I hadn’t seen anything else quite like it. It looked both comfy and sexy. Forcefield Body Armour is a British company. Its U.S. distributor, MotoNation, sent me a sample. The pewter-coloured shirt is made
of the company’s patented, ultra-soft, super-stretchy, anti-bacterial BeCool
20 BMW OWNERS NEWS January 2017
fabric (a blend of Polyamide, Polypropyl- ene, and Elastide) and is intended to be worn next to the skin. Eyeing the stitching and flat seams suggested top-quality
adjust the sleeve length so that the molded elbow (lower forearm) and shoulder pads seated perfectly, even if I’d had Orangutan arms. The extra-long sleeve cuffs also fea- ture built-in thumb holes to keep the sleeves from rolling up your arms when you slip on a jacket. I found the BeCool material clingy enough that the holes seem superfluous. The Pro Shirt comes in X-Small,
Small, Medium, Large, X-Large, and XX-Large. I’m 5’ 11” tall, weigh 175 pounds, and work out. The Medium fit me to a tee with plenty of leeway for more fat or muscle, fulfilling Forcefield’s claim that the “ergonomic design ensures the optimum in fit and comfort whatever your body shape.” Still, I suspect pumped-up Schwarzeneggers might find the Pro-Shirt, er, a bit of a stretch. The armour pads are extremely
flexible and remove from their pockets with ease. The elbow and shoulder pads are made of supple, lightweight “Nitec Evo” armor (a specialized polymer from Nitrile rubber), providing CE (Certified European) Level 1 protection. The CE Level 2 chest and neck-to-coc- cyx back protectors comprise four Nitec Evo layers for maximum high-energy absorption (the material is slightly spongy when squeezed, but stiffens on impact).
manufacture. Eager to try it on, I attempted to slip it
over my head like a T-shirt. Wrong! I was soon stuck like a cat with its head in a can. Wriggling free, I noted the side zipper that arcs from the neckline around the chest protector to the waist. Duh! You don the shirt like a zip-up jacket or wet-suit. Wow! It felt like a second skin. The elastic-like, body-fitting fabric let me
The chest protector covered the frontal rib cage, but I would feel more secure if the pad extended an extra inch or two around the flanks and similarly below the sternum. Forcefield claims that the Nitec Evo will
mold to the body in response to heat. Force- field also asserts that its BeCool fabric offers “industry leading levels” of breathability and comfort. The fiber is designed to wick away sweat and body heat, assisted by spe-
member tested
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